Intercooler Piping Pre-setup


  • Intercooler Piping Pre-setup

    Bought a Starion intercooler a few days ago.

    Tonight, i bought some PVC to get a cheap idea on what kind of piping i'm going to have to do. I also painted my I/C.

    I ran out of elbows so i coudln't really route the intercooler outlet piping well…so don't really pay attention to how it's going to fit onto the I/C as much as the routing to and from the engine.

    Here are pictures:







    I'm going to a friend of mine to get some larger inlets/outlets welded onto the intercooler later.

    There are probably a few different ways i could have done this but i like the way it's set up now.

    Crits and Crituques?

    EDIT: New updated setup picture.


  • #2
    wow thats quite a thing!

    Many many moons ago I had pvc IC pipe coming off of the turbo and it melted

    I see you have I1 and I2 and I3 with marks lining them up indicating that you are going to glue them to gether. After you glue them together how are you going to either put them in or pull them out when you need too? :shock:


    EDIT: Oh I just reread that the PVC is just for mock up purposes
    85 Z31 6.0 LSX turbo 766whp/792wtq
    04 GTO, LS6, big cam, porting, N20… underway for summertime daily driver.

  • #3
    thats sweet. just leave it in PVC lol
    Attached Files
    • DSC02684.jpg (95.7 KB)

  • #4
    SATAN wrote: wow thats quite a thing!

    Many many moons ago I had pvc IC pipe coming off of the turbo and it melted

    I see you have I1 and I2 and I3 with marks lining them up indicating that you are going to glue them to gether. After you glue them together how are you going to either put them in or pull them out when you need too? :shock:
    I put the markings on so i woudln't forget how i had it set up incase i pulled it apart after i had pictures or other information on it. I had to make it twice cause i addidentally forgot to take pictures before taking it apart to make minor cuts.

    I think i may keep it PVC but have either metal post turbo banking then switch to PVC, or have some kinda of heat sheild (non-metal) kinda like those little turbo blanket things.

    Edit: if i do decide to keep it like it is (and properly insure no melting will insue) i can make it easily removable by getting some rubber sleeves and put them on the longer pieces (like I5 that spans the intake engine to the front) and it would be easily removable.

    It really worked out well, fitment wise. Having so much room to mess with (no fan or A/C) really helped.

  • #5
    thats some crazy routing there, I'd make the near side to throttle and the turbo output shoot to the passenger side

  • #6
    Are you trying to say i should swap inlet and outlet positions on the intercooler piping route? I think so, but i'm not sure.

    I think that's how i had it first, and for some reason had the urge to put the TB side to the passenger side of the ic.

    I'll fiddle with it more tomorrow.

  • #7
    I rerouted my piping and i think this time it's more solid.

    I also think i figured out the issue with melting my previous 2$ couplings:

    Take a factory early model turbo charge pipe (basing this off measurments from my current early model charge pipe, don't know about newer ones). Saw it off just before the welded "top" part where the piping branches off to supply the plenum accessories. Put a 90 degree bend off the already 2" pipe, and voila. The majority of my heat issues would be solved, the rest of the piping would be far enough away from the manifold to not have drastic melting issues.

    I'll get pictures of my new route soon.

  • #8
    You wont leave it like that lol You cant make your engine look like a toilet system, that would be bad! lol
    http://youtube.com/c/zcartube

  • #9
    As long as it is safe for septic systems it'll be fine :lol:

    Mock up looks OK but seems like you cross over needlessly as stated above. I think you can clean it up with a little tinkering. Good idea tho…

  • #10
    I'm going to home depot to get somre reducers and another fitting or two before they close.

    It's completely different now, when i get back i'll try to get a pic up.

  • #11


    Updated picture from camera phone.

  • #12
    better :wink:

  • #13
    The welding teacher at the local technical school said he'd weld anything aluminum i needed :twisted: sweeeet.

    Going to get my BOV welded, a mock-up post-turbo "charge pipe" replica redirected to flow to the front instead of the TB (heat issues with PVC), and getting the 2" piping welded onto my IC.

    I'm excited. A whole 150$ to I/C my car.

  • #14
    that 2nd routing definitely looks better. :wink:

    I like the idea of mocking it up like that.
    Just stand back and throw money.
    Performance costs money.
    Reliable performance costs more.

  • #15
    This reminds me a lot of my very first IC setup. I had a starion IC and all 2" copper plumbing. the only difference is that I went under the car. Oh and I had a whole bunch of rubber hose connectors that would blow off all the time. It sucked and never worked right. Ahhh back when I was poor :roll:

    Oh wait, I'm still poor now i'm just in debt LOL! :lol:
    85 Z31 6.0 LSX turbo 766whp/792wtq
    04 GTO, LS6, big cam, porting, N20… underway for summertime daily driver.